Church milestone Community Presbyterian in Fort Mill celebrates its 30th year

Community Presbyterian Church will celebrate its 30th anniversary next Sunday.

Originally an offshoot of Unity Presbyterian Church, Community, at 600 North White St., Fort Mill, started life as a Sunday School in the 1940s, according to church secretary and treasurer, Marcy Chancey. In the 1960s it became a chapel and then on Oct. 29, 1978, the Bethel Presbytery organized it into a full-fledged church.

"We have a lot of good memories from that church," longtime member Ruby Arnold said. "We started out in this little warehouse building that was above where the church is now."

"It seemed like everyone in the 'mill village' started coming for Sunday school," she added.

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The Rev. Thomas Horton was the Executive Presbyter in the Bethel Presbytery when Community Presbyterian was formed. He delivered the first sermon in the church 30 years ago. It was titled "Who Then" and related to a story about the construction of the first Jewish Temple. When everything was in place, David asked the people who then was ready to give of themselves for God, Horton said.

He will be delivering the sermon next Sunday and plans to tie it into his first one from 30 years ago by taking that concept of giving of oneself to the practice of going out into the world to be a force for good.

A covered dish lunch will follow the service next Sunday. The church holds a homecoming every 10 years, Sunday will be the third homecoming, and Chancey is hoping for a bigger crowd than normal. She expects about 100 people to attend.

Over the years, Arnold said, the congregation has shrunk to about 30 members as the younger members have moved on to other cities and churches. Arnold said she hopes to see many familiar faces on Sunday, though.